From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1030532AbXDJOWg (ORCPT ); Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:22:36 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1030576AbXDJOWg (ORCPT ); Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:22:36 -0400 Received: from outmx001.isp.belgacom.be ([195.238.5.51]:38166 "EHLO outmx001.isp.belgacom.be" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1030532AbXDJOWe (ORCPT ); Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:22:34 -0400 From: Laurent Pinchart To: "Mouawad, Tony" Subject: Re: Help Understanding Linux memory management Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:22:26 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.5 Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org References: In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200704101622.26285.laurent.pinchart@skynet.be> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Hi, > I've been a MS Windows based programmer for a very long time and was > recently tossed in an environment where I am developing embedded apps on > the m68k / Linux platform. That makes me a Linux newbie. I started > asking a few questions on various IRC channels and was directed to this > group. So, I will start asking: > > These are questions derived from observations on the MCF 5475 CPU > running Linux 2.6.10 built for the m68k platform. Disk swapping is > disabled. > > 1) When physical memory runs low, the memory manager will try to use > memory currently allocated to the pagecache. Is this true? > > 2) When vm.overcommit_memory = 2 (overcommit disabled), and memory runs > low, it appears that the memory manager does not try to use memory > currently allocated to pagecache. Is this true? > > 3) Is it possible to disable the pagecache? Have you read the "Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager" book by Mel Gorman ? It describes the virtual memory manager in details. I was impressed by the amount of technical information Mel Gorman gathered and explained clearly in a single book. Given the ever-changing nature of the Linux kernel, such detailed documentation about core subsystem is often hard to find. You can get the book at http://www.phptr.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0131453483&rl=1# Laurent Pinchart